2.16.2005

gin-drinkin' bloodhound

Yesterday had all the sweetness of a toddler dipped in whipped cream, but no maraschino cherries please. I hate that shit. Work was work, you need not know about that, but I don't even need to let you know how frickin' gorgeous the weather was outside. So after conspiring to break out of work early, I decided it was time to take some detours on my way uptown to see Dr. Greenberg (that's my inimitable shrink, ya see). I fired up the iPod and decided to make a mix on-the-fly, using that wonderful On-The-Go feature.

1. The Magnetic Fields - Long-Forgotten Fairytale(I'm walking out of work, and heading to the Chambers St. Station to catch the 2/3 uptown to 72nd st.)2. Wilco - A Shot in the Arm (waiting for the train)3. Neil Young - Barstool Blues (sliding uptown through the underground)4. Pixies - Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons5. Desert Sessions - I Wanna Make It WitChu(I exit at the 72nd St. station, immediately flooded with memories of two Junes ago when Lucy and I spent 44 hours on the corner of 76th and Amsterdam waiting to get 2 dollar Radiohead tickets. I head uptown, towards 86th st where Greenberg resides.)6. TV on the Radio - Satellite7. RANA - Good Book8. Talking Heads - I Zimbra(Here I pass by Nick's Burger Jointand immediately remember how good our pizza was here when we took a break from the line. I decide to take advantage of the lovely weather, grab a table on the sidewalk and order a Cheeseburger with Fries. The pickles are fucking delicious. I sit, and listen, and eat.)9. Shout Out Louds - Shut Your Eyes10. Pavement - Rattled by the Rush11. Asobi Seksu - I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me12. Lali Puna - People I Know(I pay the check, having devoured my meaty delicious meal, and proceed to walk down to Riverside Drive and the park beneath it, watching the strangeness of uptown life as I go along. Things are different here. It is New York in a different way. Uptown and Downtown are the only realities this city has. Midtown is a joke.)13. Say Hi to Your Mom - But She Beat My High Score14. Nada Surf - The Way You Wear Your Head15. Sam Champion - Now Look At Me(When the Sam Champion songs come on, it is precisely at the moment when I am faced with a choice between two paths each leading down to Riverside Park. One is a dirt path through trees and leaves, and the other is a neat stone stairway. I take a cue from the song and take the road less travelled. I pass by the tunnel where we smoked a couple of bowls around 5 in the morning, a couple of feet away from homeless people snoring in its stony shelter.)16. Pulp - Bar Italia(This song makes me grin and I've got a spring to my step. I realize this must be the last song of the mix even if I've still got a half hour till my appointment. The mix has finished itself. And it finishes itself by bringing me to a stone embankment of sorts looking across the river to Jersey. Jersey can only look lovely from a spot like that. The song finishes, and I take out my notebook, and for the first time in 9 or ten months, feel the urge to actually write something. And I do.)

It occurred to me that you could never see the river moving all at once, that it took on the illusion of opposing lattices to justify or make reason of its own intertwining. If it all moved uniformly there would be no movement, really, just a static stillness slightly flickering. So the roles must all be divvied up between the waves, with some seeming to stand still against the onslaught of the others while in reality there was no true direction, just a mish-mash of complements and supplements that we would bury underneath a word to make it clear, the river.And while the river moved in seeming lanes, the shore beyond it lay upon its side just like the clouds beyond and the six striped lanes beneath me with the vehicles all jockeying for position, and behind me bikes and dogs and running men all in their places all leading to the sudden sickened notion that I alone was standing here in perpendicularity to everything and not in line with anything. But then I turned, and saw the buildings rising up to scrape the linearity they drowned in, and I felt not so alone.

german short-haired pointer my ASS

I went in to see Greenberg and we discussed some dreams that I'd been having, the pot I ain't been smoking, the stuff that I been buying, and the words I'd just been writing. It was one of the best sessions we've had. When I got back downtown it was just in time to join Lucy and her parents for dinner at Supper, which was fucking sweet. We ordered a delicious bottle of Pinot Grigio and I had the Priest Stranglers. Afterwards was the second and final night of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which was a joy to watch as usual. But I was very disappointed, as was Lucy, in the results of Best in Show. The German Short-Haired Pointer just did NOT do it for me. Meanwhile, I called my mom right before Best in Show to remind her to watch. She called me when the pointer was being shown and said that was the one she wanted to win. Lucy and I had bet dinner at Corner Bistro some night on the outcome of Best in Show, and my mom ended up winning. I don't think she's one for cheeseburgers though. Oh well.

Of the three comments above, I can only agree with jjjay's and anonymous #2's...I am So Cute!But really, you can drink whatever wine with whatever you eat...I don't think any wine or food is pompous, only maybe depending on the person eating it. Anyhow, the pinot grigio was fucking delicious, and was probably some of the tastiest white wine I'd had in a while.